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Life in the fast lane

This week VEE-TV talked to a young swimmer with a promising future. Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Cook competed for Britain at the Sydney Olympics last year and is in preparation for the next Olympics, fitting in a total of six hours training each day outside school hours. Rebecca learnt to swim at the age of four and by the time she was eight she was a member of the Reading Swimming Club. It was a long and hard journey that eventually led to the biggest sporting event on the planet, but it was worth it. 'There are 100,000 people cheering for you when you walk out,' Rebecca says 'and even if they're not all cheering for you, it feels like they are!'

Once she finishes her A Levels this year, Rebecca plans to take a year out from education and concentrate on swimming.

Rebecca uses hearing aids, which she has to take out for the pool – but, she says, her coach shouts loudly enough for her to be able to hear! Although her hearing loss may not be sufficient for her to qualify, she'd like to compete in the Deaf World Games in the future.

The Deaf World Games

The first Deaf World Games were held in Paris on 10-17 August, 1924, with members of the national federations of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Holland and Poland taking part along with individual competitors from Hungary, Italy and Romania. The events were athletics, cycling, football, shooting and swimming, and the games were such a success that an international Committee of Silent Sports was founded to establish a union between all deaf sporting federations and to control the quadrennial games. The first congress was held in Brussels in 1926, when Germany joined the six inaugural nations, and in 1955 the International Olympic Committee announced its recognition of CISS as an international federation with Olympic standing. Today, more than 80 countries participate.

The 19th Deaf World Games take place in Rome this summer, and about 83 British contestants will fly out of Heathrow on 19 July with their hopes set on a medal. The opening ceremony takes place on 22 July at the Olympic stadium and the event closes on 1 August. The sports include athletics, badminton, basketball, table tennis, tennis, swimming, ten-pin bowling, cycling, football, handball, orienteering, shooting, volleyball, water-polo and wrestling.

If you think you might like to go to the games, Susan Longley at the British Deaf Sports Council can help with advice on flights and accommodation:

British Deaf Sports Council
7 Bridge Street
Otley
West Yorkshire LS21 1BQ
Voice: 01943 850214
Fax: 01943 850828
Textphone: 01943 850081

Otherwise you can keep track of events by logging on to the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf website.

The new Deaf Sports Promotions website covers all aspects and levels of deaf sports in the UK and Ireland.

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